The NFL has "backed out of one of the most ambitious studies yet on the relationship between football and brain disease," a seven-year, $16M initiative conducted by the National Institutes of Health, according to sources cited by Fainura & Fainura-Wada of ESPN.com. The NFL in '12 gave the NIH a $30M research grant -- part of which would have funded this study. The league has repeatedly said that it has "no control over how that money is spent." However, sources said that the NFL "balked at this study ... because the NIH awarded the project to a group led by a prominent Boston University researcher who has been critical of the league." An NIH official last year indicated that the NFL "retained veto power over projects that it funds." Sources said that the league "exercised that power" when it learned that BU professor of neurology and neurosurgery Robert Stern "would be the project's lead researcher." Sources added that the NFL "raised concerns about Stern's objectivity, despite an exhaustive vetting process that included a 'scientific merit review' and a separate evaluation by a dozen high-level experts assembled by the NIH." BU announced the study, which attempts to diagnose CTE "in living patients," this morning. The school said that the NIH "would pay for the project but made no mention of the NFL." Sources said that the NFL pulling its funding "delayed its announcement for months, and the issue ultimately reached the office" of NIH Dir Dr. Francis Collins. Some officials as late as this week "held out hope the league would change its mind, but the NIH remained committed to funding the project regardless" (ESPN.com, 12/22). NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy in a tweet wrote, "ESPN story is not accurate. NFL did not pull any funding. NIH makes its own decisions" (TWITTER.com, 12/22).
TWITTER REAX: The N.Y. Daily News' Shaun King: "Disgusting that the @NFL is actively opposing this research into CTE & brain damage." The Wall Street Journal's Jason Gay: "The NFL is simultaneously the most optics-obsessed and optics-deficient operation on planet." Campus Insiders' Bonnie Bernstein: "Only adds fuel to fire w #ConcussionMovie coming out Friday..." SI's Jay Jaffe;" If all you wanted for Xmas was to hate the NFL even more..." Boston.com's Eric Wilbur: "Maybe the NFL's check to BU bounced since they're not charging the military for any more salutes to service."
